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Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Historic Opportunities – some waste them others embrace them

Yes, political parties
are in the business of winning elections. But parties that can’t think two elections
ahead are not likely to remain viable for too long. For decades now, it’s been
established that the Republican Party has a major problem appealing to
minorities and women. The rise of Donald Trump now gives the GOP the historic opportunity
of reversing that trend, by repudiating rather than endorsing Mr. Trump, even
at the cost of forfeiting the coming elections.

Indeed, during their upcoming
convention, GOP leaders could still decide to denounce Trump and choose a different
candidate for President. That will require changing the rules, but so what? Changing
some rules and rejecting Trump on account of his xenophobia, racism and misogyny
could mark an important first step towards addressing the trust gap separating
GOP from minority and women voters. Risking losing the coming elections in
order to make this gesture of goodwill might just be worth it. After all, the Republican
core principles emphasizing small government, states’ rights, fiscal
conservatism, individual responsibility and the need for strong national
defense are ideas that have long had appeal in minority and women circuits as
well, and were not the things that undercut the party’s appeal among them. White
male privilege was the problem, and now the GOP leadership has a historic
chance to rectify it.

As things stand at this stage,
however, they seem bent on wasting it. By refusing to see beyond the current elections
and its challenges, GOP leaders seem unable to see the forest for the trees. For what what’s
a point of winning an election but losing the party? That is, if Trump can even
deliver the victory.

The most likely outcome, however, is that the Republicans
will end up losing both, even if they all rallied behind Trump. Women and minorities
will have their say. Enough of them will be voting for her to tip the scales in
her favor. As the Republicans seem bent on wasting their historic opportunity, the
Democrats are embracing theirs.

Go ahead, patronize me!

About Ammar

Ammar Abdulhamid is a Syrian-American author and pro-democracy activist based in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is the founder of the Tharwa Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to democracy promotion. His personal website and entries from his older blogs can be accessed here.

The Delirica

The Delirica is a companion blog to the Daily Digest of Global Delirium meant to highlight certain DDGD items by publishing them as separate posts. Also, the Delirica republishes articles by Ammar that appeared on other sites since 2016. Older articles can be found on Ammar's internet archive: Ammar.World